Embarrassing Physician Shadow Moments

[InNotOf]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Ahhh...shadowing in a breast oncology clinic has no end of awkward moments for me - I no longer know the meaning of propriety. The oncologist always introduces me to patients as a student doctor or trainee - not sure that patients would appreciate knowing that a college kid is feeling their chest. (Or attempting to locate axillary lymph nodes - that's awkward when it takes forever to find them.) Of course this mode of introduction can backfire, as patients think I'm older than I am. The (married female) oncologist commented to a patient on the quality of her reconstructive surgery and on the expertise of the plastic surgeon despite his youth, then the patient wholeheartedly agreed and turned to me (single female student) and said I should go out with the guy because he's single and apparently soooo hot. "Thanks," I said, "I'll keep him in mind."

 

[MassTransport]

Ahhh...shadowing in a breast oncology clinic has no end of awkward moments for me - I no longer know the meaning of propriety. The oncologist always introduces me to patients as a student doctor or trainee - not sure that patients would appreciate knowing that a college kid is feeling their chest. (Or attempting to locate axillary lymph nodes - that's awkward when it takes forever to find them.) Of course this mode of introduction can backfire, as patients think I'm older than I am. The (married female) oncologist commented to a patient on the quality of her reconstructive surgery and on the expertise of the plastic surgeon despite his youth, then the patient wholeheartedly agreed and turned to me (single female student) and said I should go out with the guy because he's single and apparently soooo hot. "Thanks," I said, "I'll keep him in mind."

I imagine this would've been worse if you were male. Let's take a moment and reflect on this hypothetical.

 

[gujuDoc]

As part of my undergrad I shadowed dozens of physicians in varying specialties and never had a problem. One of my last rotations was following an Orthopedic Intern in the ED in the middle of the night. Dozens of students in my program have done it with no problem whatsoever.

Everything was going great, I got to help on a few procedures, see a ton of different patients, and watch a few bullets being removed in surgery. That was until a LOL came in with a displaced radius that needed to be relocated.

It's a simple enough procedure that basically entails wrenching the radius back into position after the whole wrist is relaxed. I thought it would be nice and quick like the shoulder and patella relocations I have seen/done myself and relatively painless because she was on a ton of painkillers.

So the Ortho Intern starts going at it while his resident watches and I stand on the other side of the bed. It becomes quite apparent this isn't going to be quick or easy because as soon as the Intern starts manipulating the radius I can hear bone scrapping against bone and then the LOL starts howling in pain. This goes on for a good 5 min.

Then I learned I have an aversion to people screaming in pain or more specifically people who cause someone else to scream in pain. Just as realize I'm not feeling so great and need to leave the room, I pass out. Apparently on the way down I also took the cabinet out too.

I came to a few seconds later and was so pissed off/embarrassed that I immediately tried to stand up and pretend it didn't happen, but couldn't because 3 nurses were trying to cover the huge gash I had on my head.

Apparently my wound was the coolest thing going on in the ED at the time because for the next 2.5 hours while I got 30+ sutures put into my head, I swear every single nurse/doctor/med student in both the adult and pediatric EDs came by to look at it.

Now I'm very well known by all the Emergency, Orthopedic, and Sports Medicine attendings at a large teaching hospital because of this...and not necessarily by name, but they definitely recognize me by my scar (which is barely viable unless you are looking for it).


And small side note:
The LOL came in with her son, who was in the room when I keeled over. He happened to show up at a completely different clinic a year later on the exact same day I was shadowing General Practitioners there. I got to watch his rectal exam because he felt that we had a bond.

This has definitely got to top it off. When I shadowed in anorthopedic clinic in highschool the girl who was with me passed out because she couldn't take seeing the pain the patient was in when the patient was having staples removed. I felt bad for the patient but I don't think it affected me as badly and I didn't pass out or anything. I think it is because I've had some health issues when I was younger that had me in and out of hospitals until my mid teenage years and that made me more accustomed to seeing a lot which could make someone else who is not used to it more queezy.

 

[Gospe1]

20 minutes in, i realized i've dated and dumped the daughter of the MICU director. Awwwwkwwarddd.... I thought that last name looked familiar.

 

[collegefootball]

Mine isn't a shadow case but it still invovles being in the hospital.

I've been doing some volunteer work over the last few months in a hospital entering data into a database. I've been told by the head person of this volunteer opportunity that I lack attention to detail; I have a short attention span, and I should question myself if I should become a doctor. The exact words spoken included: "in this profession one needs to have attention to detail, being focused, and I should ask myself if I really should become a doctor. He also stated: "I don't know if your lack of attention to detail has been something to occur in your past jobs or not."

So I just smiled and said I understand. There was no need to throw more fuel on the fire. I didn't have any big screw up at all. I just missed a couple (3 out of 100 patients to be exact) sections on the data log (who saw the patient and the reason for the visit).

So I thought to myself, I'm sorry that I'm not perfect like you.

So now they switched me to a different task for the data entry work. If I was doing such a bad job they would have just told me to leave, but they didn't do that.

The person did say that they appreciate the work I have done for them (but it was in the same tone of voice as the whole rest of the conversation). So I really question if this person even likes all of the hard work I have been doing for them.

So the end result ---------- scrap that person off as a possible letter of recommendation.

 

[BlauMac]

This has definitely got to top it off. When I shadowed in anorthopedic clinic in highschool the girl who was with me passed out because she couldn't take seeing the pain the patient was in when the patient was having staples removed. I felt bad for the patient but I don't think it affected me as badly and I didn't pass out or anything. I think it is because I've had some health issues when I was younger that had me in and out of hospitals until my mid teenage years and that made me more accustomed to seeing a lot which could make someone else who is not used to it more queezy.

Yeah since then I've definitely gotten used to people screaming in pain and being able to help them without passing out. But there is something about watching someone else cause a patient unnecessary pain repeatedly that just doesn't sit right with me. I get that it's a teaching hospital and all, but there should be a limit to the amount of do-overs someone gets while working on a patient, before a more experienced person can step in.